System Upgrade / Robin the Cool Beauty

System Upgrade

The two men Noil had beaten senseless scrambled away without daring to make a sound.

After sending the two Baroque Works Senior Agents packing, Noil stepped over the bodies strewn across the floor and went back inside.

He stretched out on a large bed and sighed in contentment.

"Now this is the life~"

He had only just entered the Grand Line, and he already had a big house to stay in. Not bad at all.

Normally, all Noil had to do was stay here a few days until his Log Pose finished recording the island's magnetic field.

Then he could follow its needle to the next island.

But according to the Original Story, the next stop after Whiskey Peak should be Little Garden. That was a headache.

Two giants had been fighting on Little Garden for years. Worse, the island's unusual geography meant something else.

A Log Pose needed at least a year to finish recording Little Garden's magnetic field before it would point to the next island.

Noil wasn't waiting that long.

His best option was to do what the Straw Hat Pirates had done in the Original Story: find an Eternal Pose and change course.

Unlike a Log Pose, an Eternal Pose always pointed toward the same island.

Some of Baroque Works' Senior Agents should have one.

Right now, Noil desperately hoped Crocodile was the persistent type.

The more people he sent to Whiskey Peak to kill or recruit Noil, the better.

Ideally, Crocodile would come himself. Then Noil could follow him straight to Alabasta.

Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine had been poor as dirt. Neither of them even carried an Eternal Pose to Alabasta.

That made sense. Crocodile ran Baroque Works under the identity of Mr. 0.

His subordinates would never guess that the boss of their criminal organization was a Shichibukai living all the way over in Alabasta.

Until then, Noil decided to stay on Whiskey Peak. He could wait for Crocodile to send more opponents his way and for the system to finish upgrading.

The Copy Cards the system had rewarded him with before were struggling to keep up with his progress. Hopefully, the upgrade would make it more useful.

While Noil slept in on his comfortable bed, the unlucky Mr. 5 reported his failed mission and everything he knew about Noil to his superiors through a Den Den Mushi.

Inside Rain Dinners, Alabasta's lavish casino, a Den Den Mushi wearing sunglasses chattered away with a miserable expression.

After quite some time, a slender hand gently hung it up.

Nico Robin rested her chin on the back of her hand, deep in thought.

Mr. 5's failure had caught her by surprise.

His explanation was embellished and concealed plenty, but Robin still heard what he was really saying.

The newcomer who had just entered the Grand Line had apparently dealt with Mr. 5 without breaking a sweat.

Crocodile had plenty of subordinates stronger than Mr. 5, but probably no more than two could have done that.

Interesting...

A smile appeared on Robin's face. She strode into the glittering casino hall.

At the front of the hall, Crocodile held a glass of red wine and chatted with the guests before him, playing the gracious host.

Robin approached him and said quietly, "Boss, there's been a change of plans."

Crocodile's eyes narrowed slightly. He exchanged a few more words with his guests, then returned to his office.

"What happened?" Crocodile lit a cigar and spoke evenly.

"Mr. 9 acted without orders and tried to kill the newcomer," Robin said. "It seems the newcomer turned the tables on him."

Anger flashed in Crocodile's eyes. "Useless fool. He dared disobey my orders!"

Unfazed, Robin continued, "Mr. 5 arrived without learning who the newcomer was, then attacked him too."

Crocodile frowned. "He attacked him?"

"...Forget it. If he's dead, he's dead. He was just a rookie from East Blue. We can recruit someone else."

Robin shook her head. "No. Mr. 5 was defeated too."

Crocodile took a long drag on his cigar. "He beat Mr. 5?"

"Yes." Robin nodded. "When he found out Baroque Works wanted to recruit him, he was unhappy with the position you offered him."

"Interesting."

Crocodile considered it.

If the newcomer could beat Mr. 5, then the Mr. 9 position he had offered really was too low.

Should he give him Mr. 5's position instead?

And Mr. 9—that worthless fool had defied his orders. He would have to be dealt with.

Seeing Crocodile hesitate, Robin added, "The newcomer still had strength to spare against Mr. 5. We should test his abilities first."

Crocodile nodded. After a moment's thought, he said, "Mr. 2 has finished his mission. Send him."

Robin acknowledged the order and turned to leave, but Crocodile added, "Go with him."

"If Mr. 2 can't beat him either, bring him to me yourself. I'll have a talk with him."

Robin paused, then tipped down the brim of her cowboy hat. "Understood."

On Whiskey Peak, Noil lived like a king.

Once the bounty hunters recovered from the shock of his Conqueror's Haki, they treated him with the utmost respect, groveling at every turn.

It was as though someone had given them orders.

They treated Noil as their direct superior, serving him good food and drink all day.

As for Mr. 9, who had tried to kill him, Noil woke the next day to find him gone.

It seemed Baroque Works had dealt with him internally.

The numbered agent who took his place was a tall, skinny man wearing a crown, with two tens written on his face.

On the day of his promotion, he changed those numbers to nines.

Noil had no idea what the point of that was.

Then he thought about it. Wasn't this the guy who would later partner with Princess Vivi when she infiltrated Baroque Works?

And so, with the new Mr. 9 leading the servants, Noil spent several pleasant days doing next to nothing.

On the third day, the long-dormant system finally woke up.

Noil had waited long enough. "System, tell me what the upgrade does."

The system's cold voice rang out for the first time in ages. "The system has corrected the shortcomings of Talent Copy Cards and unlocked new functions."

"First, the host's talent slots have increased from seven to ten."

"Second, the system has unlocked the collection catalog."

"Third, talent fusion is now available."

Robin, the Alluring Older Woman

"Could you explain that properly?" Noil asked.

Apart from his talent slots increasing from seven to ten, he hadn't understood a word.

The system explained, "Whenever the host replaces an old talent with a new one, the old talent will be added to the catalog."

"The host may retrieve a talent from the catalog at any time, but each retrieval has a three-month cooldown."

Noil's eyes widened with delight.

Now that was more like it.

From now on, he could store talents he copied but didn't need, then bring them back whenever he did.

More importantly, retrieving them from the catalog came with no conditions!

As for the cooldown, that didn't bother him.

Three months? He could wait that long.

Still grinning, Noil asked, "What does talent fusion do?"

"Two talents of the same quality may be fused. The resulting talent will be of higher quality, and its ability has a chance to mutate."

"Each talent may only be fused once. A fused talent cannot be replaced and becomes permanent."

Noil considered it. This new function was good too.

A direct boost in quality, with a chance of mutation? Of course that was welcome.

The problem was that he couldn't replace a talent once he fused it.

With the system's catalog, Noil would have more and more ways to fight.

If he had enough slots, he could even wield the powers of nine Devil Fruits at once.

But then he wouldn't have talent boosts for hand-to-hand combat, Swordsmanship, Haki, and the like.

Fusing a talent meant locking down one slot. He needed to choose carefully.

Noil thought through how he wanted to arrange his talent slots.

His innate talent, Otherworldly Guest, couldn't be replaced.

Besides, it was the secret behind his good looks. Maybe fusing and upgrading it would make it work even better.

He could reserve three other slots for the Three Types of Haki.

For Armament Haki, for example, he could copy and fuse the talents of Garp and Zephyr.

For Observation Haki, he could look to Fujitora and Enel.

Add Swordsmanship and physical ability, and Noil already had six talent slots that were more or less worth locking in through fusion.

That left four for copying Devil Fruit powers.

Just imagine when Noil met Ace someday.

One moment, they could be trading Fire Fists. The next, Noil could hit him with a volcanic blast of magma.

It would open up countless possibilities in battle.

"Because the reward system for Talent Copy Cards has been revised, future system rewards will be Universal Talent Copy Cards."

"A Universal Talent Copy Card can copy a talent of any quality."

Noil froze, then asked hurriedly, "What about the Gold Talent Copy Card I saved up?"

The system paused before replying, "All previous versions of Talent Copy Cards have been recalled by the system."

"You son of a—"

Noil was about to let loose when the system spoke again. "As compensation, they have been converted into three Universal Talent Copy Cards."

At the word "compensation," Noil held back his tirade and nodded in satisfaction.

One gold card and a pile of white cards for three universal cards?

He had come out way ahead.

With the Copy Card issue settled, Noil turned his attention inward to the catalog.

Sure enough, it recorded talents he had replaced before, including Stamina Boost and Village Police Fighting Style.

Only then did Noil relax.